Featured Could this be 18th century low boy

The fall colors are just hitting their peak here in the Carolinas, gorgeous! I love fall, wonderful time of year.

 

Missouri usually peaks in about November 1. And yes, fall is the best, especially October!

 

Cape Cod. A bit far from Ontario. We don't get much color. It goes from summer to fall, literally. A few trees change, but on the rest the leaves just fall.

 

What is the wood type on this piece ?

 

Oak..but thick veneer front

 

Another thing about period QA highboy's, when families fell on hard times & needed furniture, they would sometimes separate the top from the bottom. Add new feet to the top portion to make it chest of drawers and add a top to lower section & use as a server.
How can you tell? If the lowboy portion is over 30" tall, it is likely a highboy base and not born a lowboy (dressing table). Dressing tables were typically in the 27-28" in height.

 

I have the feeling mine is actually the bottom of a highboy for that very reason. I think my Aunt's husband got the bottom half and his brother got the top half. Unfortunately, my cousin, from whom I inherited the bottom, was estranged from her uncle or I might have been able to find out. The people who got the house after her uncle passed seemed willing to let her go through it and take things if she wanted, but she was a difficult person and snubbed their offer.

 

Yeah, this happens more than most think. I myself bought a period QA base years ago because i loved the form of it (probably RI) & it had it's original hardware. It was walnut but they had put a single board pine top which, i did not want. Purchased a walnut board from a boutique saw mill that was 27 inches wide for $600 and had it fitted to my base.
Long story short? I got at least 3k invested in a highboy base but, as a collector i don't care it's only worth 1000-1500. I love the look of it

 

You can see how the oak piece doesn't quite fit the top

 

Here is pic of my QA base, 1760-1770, walnut, probably RI & yes, i have AT LEAST twice what it's worth invested in it but don't care!

 

James, as with most period pieces, the form is gorgeous... as is the walnut.

I have a Edison Institute museum reproduction, ca. 1930's made by Colonial mfg. of a Savery Philadelphia low boy. It's nice and very well made, but to the eye, it just doesn't have the sheer beauty of the 18th century.

 

Agrees, period pieces have a presence that is impossible to replicate, even line by line copies.

 

Mine was in my uncle's family and came from Goffstown, NH. My aunt left it outside, put plants on it with no under plate, etc. so the finish is completely gone. Some day when I've saved enough nickels, I'll get it fixed up. I'd still like to find a nice top.

 

Tell you what, if you want a single board, depending on species, GET OUT YOUR POCKETBOOK! You'll end up at a boutique type saw mill, these guys go all over the country & harvest old growth trees, often in urban areas in old neighborhoods.
In my case, walnut board was 6 feet long X 27 inches wide & cost $600 and this was years ago, about $50 per board foot. I asked why so much? Answer was, these trees are often difficult to fell, they are HUGE, often in urban area, houses in way, power lines in way, bla bla bla. Then, something that wide has to be air dried, FOR YEARS! in my boards case, 4 years of air drying before they could finish it in kiln.
Add all that up and wide boards = BIG BUCKS!

 

By the look, totally worth it! No shortcuts for true quality.

 

Yeah, & that's only half the story! Took the board along with the piece to restorer, about a month later he calls and says, IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!
What's the problem i ask. The problem is, that board while air drying had turned a deep nut brown in color and, no matter what he did to color it to try and approximate the reddish color on walnut case, it's still a DEEP BROWN! and sticks out like a sore thumb.
What should we do i asked? How about waiting 2 hundred years till the board turns red he thundered!!! and he was pretty serious! lol. I suggested he just set it aside for now, move on to other projects & come back to it later.
A few weeks later he calls back, It's ready! It is? what happened? Since he had tried everything else & failed, he decided to bleach the board white and, it WORKED!
It's not a perfect match but it's very close, i am happy with it.